Sinnoh: The adventure begins
by ap69
Summary: When the son of two elite Pokemon trainers sets out on his very own adventure in sinnoh to become the greatest Pokemon trainer and co-coordinator there is. However when sinnoh is in Danger, will he be able to stand up for all it's people? Read to find out
1. Chapter 1

**Sinnoh: The adventure begins**

**Hi, Ok so this is a story that I'm pretty much going to make up so yea... The gym leaders and towns are staying the same, just the character and plot will be changed, so without further adieu, my story, oh and btw, throughout the story, I'll suggest some songs that fit the scene . **

**15 years ago (Run this town- JayZ) **

"Now arcanine flame wheel!" A muscular man called out to his tired fire dog

"Char canine" Said the legendary pokemon as it rolled in to a ball and started to spin at a high speed towards the opponent

"Crobat, supersonic" Said the graceful lady on the other side

Crobat launched a sonic wave from it's mouth right at the incoming arcanine, however it had little effect as the legendary pokemon managed to land it's attack and knocked out the bat pokemon.

"Well, I must say Jonathan you are truly a powerful opponent, however you stand no chance against my next pokemon, go Empoleon" Said the girl calmly, as she sent forth her empoleon to battle

"Well, let's not assume the winner on types Cynthia" said Jonathan "Arcanine, Flare blitz!"

The legendary pokemon released a huge stream of flames and fire

"Empoleon protect" Said Cynthia once again maintaining her calm

Empoleon created a shield around it right as the flames hit it, once the flames passed, arcanine was left looking on the verge of fainting

"grr, Arcanine, use all your remaining strength for one last flamethrower" Ordered Jonathan

The Legendary pokemon let out a huge roar, and with it a huge stream of fire

" Empoleon hydro pump to put that dog out of its misery" said Cynthia with a smirk

The penguin pokemon send out a huge jet of water that collided with flamethrower and broke right through to arcanine, knocking it out instantly

"Return arcanine. Well Cynthia I must say, you put up a tough battle, but it's not over yet" Said Jacob with a smirk "Let's go Infernape!"

The flame monkey let out a roar as it was released from it's ball

"Infernape, earthquake" said Jacob

The flame monkey let out a huge roar as it started to ferociously pound the ground causing huge tremors to travel through the stadium, shaking up empoleon

"Don't take that, fight back with flash cannon" Cynthia ordered

"Oh hell to no" Jacob said confidently "I'm going to win this battle, Infernape flame thrower that penguin"

The flames hit the incoming flash cannon lighting it on fire and returning it back to empoleon, with a drastic loss of speed so that empoleon dodged easily

"Now empoleon Hydro cannon!" Said Cynthia with an evil grin

"Don't get to cocky, it's not over yet. Infernape Blast Burn!" replied Jacob

The two pokemon launched their most powerful attacks at each other, the collision resulted in a huge explosion in the stadium

"Infernape, ENDURE" said Jacob worriedly

"Empoleon protect" Said Cynthia with a sense of urgency

It took a while for the smoke to clear, and but once it did, it was revealed that both pokemon were barely standing

"Infernape rest" Said Jacob

Infernape slowly fell asleep and looked like it was regaining health at a rapid pace

Cynthia was to shocked to even give an order

"Now infernape, sleep talk to finish this"

Infernape still asleep took in a huge breath and released a full force flamethrower hitting Empoleon square in the chest, knocking it out even with its struggle to get up.

"And there you have it folks, the first challenger to face the champion In years has beaten her. Jacob Johnson is the new pokemon league champion of the sinnoh region!" Bellowed the announcer over the intercom

"well well, It would seem that sinnoh has a new champion, I must say that was truly the most enjoyable battle I've had in a while, I think that you truly deserve the title of sinnoh champion" Said Cynthia in a modest tone

"Thank you, I think that is one battle I shall never forget, so thank you. For now that the battle is over, and we are rivals no longer then let us be friends, so for now thank you, I have learnt that I still have a lot more to learn" Jacob replied

"Yes it is good to be friends now that the battle is over. And yes, to be a great champion takes training and compassion for pokemon, qualities I see in you" She replied

"Thank you, and for now good bye" Jacob said

"Indeed we shall, good bye Jacob Johnson" Cynthia said as the two went their separate ways

**15 years later**

"Zack, get up, now" was the first thing Zack Johnson heard on the morning of his tenth birthday, and the day he began his pokemon journey through the sinnoh region.

"Coming mum" He called back to his mum Cynthia Johnson

Zack Johnson was the son of two elite pokemon trainers Jacob and Cynthia Johnson. His parents had high expectations of him on his journey. He however did not want to be a pokemon trainer, his ambition as a child was always to become a world class pokemon co-ordinator. He did not have a choice however; his fate was sealed as a pokemon trainer from the day he was born.

He quickly got dressed wearing his blue hat and his signature green t-shirt with a red stripe down the side, he also wore baggy jeans which finished his look. He headed downstairs for breakfast.

"Happy Birthday Zack" Said his dad as Zack entered the dining room

"Thanks dad" he replied

"Oh, my young boy's finally growing up" Said his mum "and today he finally gets his first pokemon and starts on his pokemon journey"

"Don't worry mom, I'll be fine" Zack said comforting his mom

"I guess it was about time" She sighed as she served breakfast

After Zack finished his breakfast, made sure his things were packed and said goodbye to his parents, he set of toward Sandgem town where he would meet professor Rowan to get his starter pokemon of chimchar, turtwig or piplup. His mum had started with a piplup and his dad with chimchar, so he had pretty much decided on turtwig.

He was walking for nearly an hour when he reached Lake Verity. Rumour had it that the three great lakes in sinnoh Lake Verity, Acuity and Valor were home to three legendary pokemon Mesprit, Uxie and Azelf. He decided he would stop by and see what all the fuss was about. As he approached the lake he saw that someone was already there. He looked quite old and wise even from the back.

"Hello" Zack called out uncertainly toward the man

"Ah, the youth and there curious minds, Child allow me to introduce myself, my name is Professor Rowan, I study Pokemon evolution, and my aim is to discover why some pokemon evolve and why others don't. Pardon my rudeness; I didn't quite get your name" Said the old man

"I didn't say it. My name is Zack Johnson" Zack introduced

"Well, I was expecting you today, your parents have told me quite a lot about you, I assume you were on the way to my lab, am I correct?" Asked the professor

"Yes sir" Zack replied

"Well it looks like you've found me. But right now, I do not have the pokemon you need, I apologize greatly as the starter pokemon I have asked for have not arrived yet" Zack's heart sank as the professor said this "I do however have a pokemon with me that could act as a starter pokemon today if you wish" The professor continued

"Yes sir, I'll take whichever pokemon you have" Zack replied eagerly

"I shall give you a choice after I have revealed the pokemon, Go Dratini" The professor released the Dragon pokemon.

"Tini Dratini" said the dragon pokemon as it was released for its pokeball

"Well?" asked the professor

"I would be a fool to not except it, I always wanted a dragon type, I stick to what I said previously, I'll take him" Zack replied eagerly

"Well then who am I to deny friendship, as Dratini seems to have taken quite a licking to you already, although I must warn you, it may become harder to control as you both get stronger. But for now, I wish you good luck on your Journey. You will meet many more friends and pokemon on this journey. I give you two more presents for now a pokedex and 5 pokeball's"

"Thank you sir" Zack said thankfully

"The pokedex is a high tech device, should you encounter any pokemon on your journey that you are un-sure of, and that device will give you the information on it, that device also contains a map of the Sinnoh region, You can see that the first Gym is in Oreburgh city. Now the pokeballs are pretty straight forward, weaken a wild pokemon, toss that ball and if successful you will have captured that pokemon. So for now Good bye and I wish you good luck on your journey" Said professor Rowan

"Thank you sir, for everything you have done for me today, I cannot express how grateful I am." Zack said truly gratefully

"Think not of it young one, you shall do me justice by using everything I have given you for justice, so for now, farewell" Said the professor as he headed back to his lab in Sandgem town.

Zack also headed out on his journey with his new Dratini beside him, he was ready to be the greatest pokemon trainer there was, also if he could the greatest co-ordinator.

**Yea, so that's the end of the first chapter, if you have any suggestions or not then please R&R. Thanks. Yeah, so I've edited this slightly from the original trying to add more detail, hopefully I was successful. **


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Journey to Jubilife

**Hey guys, so if you're reading this, you know its chapter two. I hope you don't expect that many updates after this because I've just had holidays and probably won't bother to update anymore when school starts, maybe a few chapters every now and again. Anyway, Enjoy. Oh, I don't own pokemon or the less major characters, I own only own Zack and his parents. Anyhow R&R. Thanks.**

A whistling person was heard walking through the woods following the path to Jubilife city. By his side was a small snakelike dragon pokemon. The boy had messy Brown hair and chocolate brown eyes. He was wearing a dark blue t-shirt and a pair of jeans.

"Come on Dratini, Jubilife isn't too far ahead. If you want those gym badges or ribbons then you're going to have to pick up the pace" Zack said to the tired dragon type

"dra Dratini" the pokemon replied

"Oh come on, we can rest once we reach Jubilife, until then we need to keep training and moving" Zack told the pokemon

The pokemon kept going for his trainer's sake.

After a while they heard a voice.

"haha, weak trainer and a weak pokemon" Said a voice from behind one of the trees

"Who's there?" Zack replied simply

"Does it matter, all you need to know is that I am superior to you" The boy replied still remaining hidden.

"haha" said Zack sarcastically "If you're so tough then beat me in a battle"

"Happily" Said the trainer as he revealed himself "Let's go, Shinx"

"Ok Dratini, this is your first battle, let's go for it" Zack said as he sent forth the dragon pokemon to battle

"Shinx, spark" the trainer said confidently

"Dratini tackle" Zack ordered

The two pokemon charged towards each other, except shinx kept charging energy. When the two attacks collided, shinx unleashed the power of the spark attack right at Dratini

"no, Dratini" Zack said worriedly

The dragon pokemon struggled to get up, but got up none the less

"well I must say, that is one tough pokemon. But there's no way in hell I'm going to lose to noob trainer like you. Shinx Bite" the trainer ordered the flash pokemon

"grr, Dratini" said Zack worriedly

As the incoming pokemon came towards Dratini, it began to glow, before unleashing a an electric wave straight at the incoming flash pokemon

"Wow" was all Zack was able to say in amazement

"was that thunder wave?" asked the opposing trainer in surprise "grr, shinx are you alright"

No response came from the electric type

"I think that means I win" said Zack with a trace of mockery in his voice

"Humph, your better than I thought" said the trainer

"Ok, that's what she said" Zack said amused

"Well, no matter how immature you may be, I guess you did beat me, so I take my hat off to you for that. I guarantee you, the next time we meet; I will not lose to fluke like this." Said the trainer

"ok..." Zack said unsure

"Oh yeah. My name is Steven" Steven introduced himself "I aim to be a great trainer and co-ordinator"

"Wait, you can do that?" Zack asked amazed

"Yes, you didn't know?" Steven laughed

"No..." Zack said modestly

"Anyway, see you around then, bye" Steven said as he headed into the woods

"Yeah, bye" Zack replied slowly. He had his first rival

"I think there might be a small possibility that we may be lost" Zack said consulting his pokedex map half an hour later

"Dra" Said Dratini looking dumbstruck

"Yeah" Zack said looking up from the map "well I guess we could camp out here for the night, just until we find our way around in the morning"

Dratini couldn't bother to argue with him because he was already to exhausted to don anything other than collapse where he was

"Fine, until we get to a good spot return" Zack recalled Dratini to its pokeball

"Finally" Said Zack as he arrived at a river side that looked promising after another half an hour of searching

"Let's go Dratini" Zack said as he released the dragon type

"Dra?" Asked the pokemon as he was released

"Come on, let's set up camp" Zack said as he pulled out a tent from within his green backpack

After 20 minutes of hard work, the two finally took a seat

"dra" Dratini whined

"Yeah, I'm hungry as well, think you can get some fish Dratini?" Zack asked hopefully

"Dratini" Said the pokemon as it dived in to the river. It emerged a few minutes later with two fish in his mouth

"Thanks" Zack said gratefully "Any idea about how to light a fire?"

Dratini sighed before releasing a minor thunder wave lighting the pile of logs between the two

"Dratini, you are truly the most amazing pokemon in the world" Zack said as he held his fish over the fire to cook it

Dratini however had already eaten his fish and had fallen asleep after a long day

Zack sighed before returning the pokemon, and then continued to cook the fish. After it was cooked and he had eaten, he decided to go to bed to prepare for another long day tomorrow, hopefully to find Jubilife.

The next morning Zack opened his eyes and slowly woke up. He got up got dressed, brushed his hair and teeth before heading out and released Dratini

"Morning, sleep well?" Zack asked the pokemon

"Dra, Dratini" Replied the dragon pokemon

"Good to hear, hungry?" Zack asked attempting to find some fruit on trees. After minutes of searching, he finally found a berry tree. The two each had their share of berries before packing up camp and setting off toward Jubilife city.

Zack made sure to regularly check his pokedex map to make sure the two were on the right path.

Finally after an hour of walking, the two had finally reached the main path with other trainers and being much more relaxed.

"Yes" Zack said victoriously "We'll be in Jubilife in no time, then Oreburgh is the next stop for our first gym battle"

"Dratini!" The pokemon said happily in response

An hour later it was clear that the two weren't far from Jubilife as the skyline slowly came into sight. A few tall buildings were clearly visible. It all looked so new and developed.

"Well, we should be there in ten minutes. Just a little bit more" Zack said

"Tini" Dratini said managing to keep up with a little trouble however

"Come on, you need to be fit as well as powerful.

"Dratini" He agreed

After the two entered the great city, they headed to every trainers greatest friend. The pokemon centre.

"Good evening" Said a pink haired nurse behind the counter. She wore an apron and next to her was a pink egg shaped pokemon. "How may I help you?"

"So I'm kind of new to the whole trainer thing, so I was hoping that you could explain what happens here"

She giggled and said "well, pokemon centres are there in almost all cities and towns and in some woods and routes. Trainers can come to pokemon centres to get a room which they may stay the night in. As well as that we can heal and or rest your pokemon"

"Yea could you please heal my Dratini?" Zack asked as it jumped on the counter "and I'd like a room here for a few nights please"

"Sure. If you need anything else, you know where to find me. There are nurse Joys in all pokemon centres in all four regions" She said as she took Dratini and handed Zack his room key for the night

After Zack had showered and got ready for bed, he got into bed with Dratini (who had kindly been returned by nurse Joy) and he turned on the tv. On the channel he was on, an ad came up advertising a pokemon contest in Jubilife two weeks from then

"Did you hear that? There's going to be a contest right here in Jubilife" Zack said ecstatically

"Dratini" The pokemon replied

"Yeah I guess, so I suppose we could go to get the gym badge first then hopefully we could be back here in time for the contest" Zack reasoned

**Hi, ok so that was chapter two. Hope you enjoyed. Chapter 3 coming up soon (hopefully). Anyway, if you have any suggestions, you know how to give them, all criticism is appreciated. Thanks for reading. R&R. **


	3. Chapter 3

Jubilife: City of Dreams and the quiz master

**Hey people, sorry for the late update. I tried focusing on my other story but that got sidetracked so I tried focusing on it again and here I am... Yeah, so sorry for the lame title, but it will make sense later on. Anyway****. ****Disfrutar** (Spanish: Enjoy) :D

"I think that Building there is the TV station" Said Zack consulting his dex map "I think we should check it out"

"tini" said his trusted dragon type companion

"Oh, don't be a spoilt sport, come on, I'm sure it'll be great" Zack replied to the lazy dragon pokemon as he marched through the doors of a high tech and modern looking building that stood out from the rest.

As they entered the first thing that hit them was how busy and important everything looked, and yet it had calm and a friendly feeling to it.

Zack approached the receptionist and said "Excuse me miss, I was just wondering, which tv station is this?" Zack asked

The girl giggled "This isn't the TV station silly, it's the contest and Poketch building" the blonde hair receptionist replied

"Contest building? Poketch?" Zack asked curiously

"You haven't heard of us. I think the contest part is pretty straight forward, every week we have a cross city contest and the winner can win fabulous prizes. Also we have smaller contests which are much harder to win, but if one does, the prize is truly fantastic. As for the Poketch, it's a high tech device that can install applications and several other useful things that could help trainers and co-ordinators alike on their journeys not just through sinnoh but the world. Some of the applications are Map which adjusts to where you are, Weather checker to help you tell the weather in different places, and my personal favourite, the messenger, it sends messages from one poketch to the next, all you need is the other persons poketch code. It's more than just a watch." The receptionist lectured with pride

"Wow" Said Zack trying to take in all the information that had just been handed to him

"I think you came at a good time, this week's city and personal contests end today. The grand prize for the city one is a poketch and the prize if you win the personal one will be a fabulous surprise. So hurry, deadline for both is at 7 tonight" The receptionist informed Zack

"Thanks, I have 5 hours before the deadline. What is the city contest for this week and where is it please?" Zack asked urgently

"Well it's a quiz maze; it's a one day only event, it starts in half an Hour. First contender to make it out wins it the poketch" The receptionist "But at the same time, the person to find all off the quiz bots and answers all the questions correctly wins the personal prize"

"Thanks, I should be on my way then" Said Zack as he raced out of the building closely followed by Dratini.

"Welcome one and all to this week's Jubilife contest, the pokemon contest however will be held here next week. This week however we have a maze prepared, the first trainer to collect all of the clues and emerge from the maze first will be victorious and will win a free Poketch. As for the personal contest, there will be quiz bots hidden in the maze, each one equipped with a more challenging question than the last, any trainer who finds and answers all the questions will win the personal prize. Now at your own time begin!" Said the referee as some 50 people rushed in the maze

Zack entered the maze alone as the rules stated that no pokemon were allowed in the maze.

"Come on, need to find those quiz bots" Zack thought determinedly to himself as he continued through the maze. Eventually he stopped in front of a very odd looking tree; it was angular, had a slight shine to it and looked painted. He knew that this was the first quiz bot.

"I know you're a quiz bot" He said quietly to the tree as instructed. The results came immediately a piece of paper came out of the bot. It said "If I had had two planes, one osf them took off from New York toward Paris at a speed of 300 mph, meanwhile my other one took off from Paris to New York at the exact same time, but at a speed of 250 mph. Which was closer to Paris when the two planes met?"

Zack almost replied the first one, but thought to himself "If it were that easy, why it would be here? When they meet!" He knew the answer

"They are the exact same distance away" He said to the quiz bot

"Please scan your quiz card" The bot replied completely unaware if he was right or not.

Zack did as told and scanned the card given to him at entry. Once it was registered he moved went back to the maze.

After 10 minutes that felt like 10 days to Zack, he eventually found another weird looking tree, but this one was more realistic than the last. This one was slightly rounded so that it would fool a person from a distance, however up close, it was still pretty face

He repeated the same procedure as last time and got the question "A man in a bar walks up to the bar tender and asks for a glass of water, the bartender however points a gun at the man. The man then thanks him and walks away. Why did the man thank the bartender?"

"hmm, why would he need water?..." he thought, this riddle was harder than the last "he could have the hiccups, I suppose that could work, because the gun probably scared him, hence curing his hiccups, so he thanked him!"

"Because he had the hiccups" Zack said to the tree

He once again scanned his card and moved on. Again completely unaware of whether he was right or not

The maze had several more dead ends and was slowly getting thicker. But he eventually saw something that made it slightly better, it was hard to find but was found, the third quiz bot. This one was trickier to spot; it was tall rounded and was leafy but still had paint issues.

He repeated the same card procedure and got the third riddle. "A boy was at a carnival and went to a booth where a man said to the boy, "If I write your exact weight on this piece of paper then you have to give me $50, but if I cannot, I will pay you $50."

The boy looked around and saw no scale so he agrees; thinking no matter what the carnie writes he'll just say he weighs more or less.

In the end the boy ended up paying the man $50. How did the man win the bet?"

"... Shit" Zack said to himself "Perhaps it's what the carnie said, "If I can write your exact weight on a piece of paper? Maybe he did as he said; he said he'd write _your exact weight"_

"He wrote your exact weight like he said he would" Zack said to the quiz, once again he scanned the card and moved on.

Zack was feeling more alone than ever, he didn't have any other human around him, or even Dratini. His miserable trance however was interrupted by the sight of light in front of him. That was it, the exit.

"Wait" he thought to himself "aren't there meant to be 4 bots?" Zack thought. He searched everywhere nearby trying to find the final bot, the solution to all of his problems. He uselessly flipped over the answer card he was given. There was a clue.

"Where victory lies" The clue said

"WHAT?" Zack freaked out "Where is victory, victory, there are two forms of victory right now, personal or city... I'm guessing city, meaning that the exit of the maze is the victory for the personal contest as well!"

He exited the maze. As he did he was instantly greeted by the sunlight and a huge cheer from the crowd. He had won.

"Congratulations to today's winner, Zack Johnson!" Announced the referee "As well as the city prize, he has also won the personal prize, our quiz bots in the maze inform us that he has answered all of his questions correctly and figured out the fourth clue! That means he wins both prizes!"

"Thank you so much!" Zack said overwhelmed with happiness

"Now you have two options, you can choose the poketch and the mystery prize of a pokemon egg or just a very strong and rare pokemon, you can see the pokemon to help you to decide" The referee/ announcer asked Zack

"Can I see the pokemon?" Zack asked

"Of course" The referee said pulling out a pokeball and releasing the pokemon within.

"Cool" Zack said scanning the long snake like yet truly beautiful pokemon

"Milotic, the Tender Pokémon and the evolved form of Feebas. At the first sign of fighting, Milotic will come up from the bottom of its lake habitat to calm any angry feelings" The pokedex replied.

"I think I'll choose the first one" Zack said after some consideration.

"Very well then, here is your poketch" The announcer said handing him a watch box "And here is the egg" He said handing Zack a multi shaded blue egg.

"Thank you so much" Zack said as he put of the poketch and took his egg

"Hey Look!" And on looker shouted "It's Hatching!" He said pointing to the egg

And well enough, it was.

**Muhahaha, I think I'll leave you wonderful people in suspense until next chapter to see what pokemon it is, anyhow, thanks for reading. R&R.**


	4. Chapter 4

Ore filled road to Oreburgh

**Hey people, I'm pretty sure you can guess what happens. I've gotten some guesses about which the hatching pokemon might be. All will be revealed this chapter, however.**

His blood was pumping. What could it be? It was almost out.

"neoon" was the first thing Zack heard or saw of the new pokemon

"Make sure the first thing it see's is you" said the announcer

It was done, and a luminous fish was in Zack's hands**. **Zack immediately captured it without a struggle.

It had been a long tiring day, and yet Zack was still eager to find out what it was. So he filled up the sink in his room in the centre, and then released the new pokemon into the basin. It was black on top with a slight gold tint and was gold on his stomach with a luminous pink strip down the middle, it also had a flowing tail which had pink spots on them.

He scanned it with his pokedex "Finneon, the Wingfish Pokémon. Because of its twin-tail fins that flutter like wings when swimming, Finneon has been called the 'Beautifly of the Sea"

"cool" Zack said, but when he compared the picture on his pokedex to his finneon, he saw that his looked different to the pokedex one, the colours were completely different, except the pink.

"I guess I'll ask Nurse Joy tomorrow" He thought to himself

"tini" Zack heard as he awoke. His Dratini was on top of him

"Morning?" He said curiously to the pokemon

"dra tini tini Dratini" Dratini said to Zack

"Wait, WHAT?! Breakfast closes in 20 minutes!" Zack translated shocked as he jumped out of bed and ran straight in to the bathroom. Two minutes later he emerged fully dressed and ran out the door straight towards the cafeteria with Dratini hot on his heels.

"mmm, this looks good" Zack said to no one in particular looking at the huge stack of food in front of him.

"Dwatiwi" The pokemon attempted to say with his mouth full of poke chow.

"Well if it's that good" Zack said before he dug into his own mountain of food

An hour later, Zack had eaten showered and was already heading out the door when he remembered one thing.

"hey nurse joy, I was wondering if there's something wrong with my finneon, you see it's not the same colour as the one in my pokedex, so I was wondering if you knew anything about it" Zack told the nurse his story

"Very well" She said "Please release it on the counter" Zack did as he was told and released the pokemon on the table "hmm, these types of pokemon are quite rare, but not unheard of. They are called shiny pokemon; they each are a different colour to the original pokemon. As well as that, they also have boosted stats so things like their Attack, speed and defence will all be stronger than the regular ones"

"Cool" Zack said impressed with his pokemon "Oh yeah, one more thing, how exactly would one find Oreburgh city?" Zack asked the nurse

She giggled before saying "If you had the map application on your Poketch you would be able to check it on there"

Zack had completely forgot, the poketch he had won yesterday had a map application on it, just like the receptionist had told him. When he checked it, sure enough, there was a map

"Ok, thanks for everything nurse joy" Zack thanked the nurse before heading out with his Poketch leading the way with his Dratini behind him.

"pfft, no chance I'm losing to you again Zack" Steven said confidently "I've been doing some training of my own, and I caught a new pokemon, let's get this battle on"

"Bring it Steven" Zack said "Go Dratini"

"pfft, that again, go Shinx" Steven sent forth the Flash pokemon

"Ok Dratini, thunder wave, go" Zack ordered the Dragon type. Dratini did as it was told, however it didn't seem to have had any damage to shinx what so ever. Zack was curious so he attacked with caution. "Ok... Now Dratini let's try out that new move shall we, twister"

But once again Steven just stood there with a huge smirk on his face, not making an attempt to save shinx. Zack was extremely frustrated, how could he not help his shinx?

It all became clear why after the twister hit. Steven wore an even bigger grin on his face, his plan had worked, shinx was evolving.

"Wow" Zack said, he had never seen evolution, or for that matter had never faced an evolved pokemon. He was scared and excited at the same time. Once it was done Zack saw that the pokemon left behind was larger than shinx and looked a lot more powerful.

Steven scanned the new pokemon with his pokedex "Luxio, the Spark Pokémon. By touching friends with its front paws, Luxio is able to communicate through the sparks it emits"

"Perfect" Steven said with a smirk "now Luxio spark"

"Dratini, twister" Zack defended.

The two attack collided with each other, but as the smoke cleared, the twister had switched direction due to where luxio had collided with it had also been charged with electricity. Zack knew if that attack hit it would be a KO. And Zack knew that shinx would have evolved, and that once it did Dratini would stand no chance stats or level wise.

"Dratini!" Was all Zack could say. His thoughts had lost him time, and the twister spark combo made contact "Stand strong buddy, you can do it!"

"No chance unless you return it" Steven mocked without the awareness that he had helped Zack.

"Dratini, return" Zack recalled the dragon type in a flash of bright red light. Zack knew that he only had one chance left. He was grateful this was a lakeside battle "Let's go Finneon!" Zack released the water type straight in the lake.

"Nice" Steven said impressed by the pokemon "slightly off colour though"

"Well not off battle, go finneon water gun!" Zack ordered. Steven was caught up with his ego of types that he didn't bother to dodge it, but still tiered from its battle with Dratini, Luxio fainted.

"WHAT?!" Steven said outraged "That's it, no mercy, go Abra!" From the pokemon, Steven released one pokemon that was very well known and said to be hard to catch but rather powerful once evolved.

Zack checked his pokedex "Abra, a Psychic Power Pokémon. It sleeps eighteen hours a day, but employs telekinesis even while sleeping"

"shit..." Zack said worried "let's make the first move, finneon Pound!"

"No letting our guard down, teleport abra" Steven said

"Finneon, water gun on the ground to get in the air" Zack ordered to the pokemon. Finneon was soaring in the air when Zack followed up with "Now quickly use pound" Now finneon dived down from mid-air.

Just as it was about to slam into Abra Steven said "teleport" and with that abra was gone, and it was too late to help finneon, who slammed head first into the ground and was instantly knocked out.

"Damn that thing's annoying, we need to find away to take it out. I don't think it can attack, but I would be on the lookout for surprises. One more hit and Dratini's screwed" Zack thought to himself before releasing Dratini again.

"quick Dratini, start charging up a twister, a full power one" Zack said as Dratini began to gather all the power it could into the rapidly growing twister in front of it.

"Abra, when it attacks, keep teleporting" Steven said simply, but Steven was getting slightly worried by the size of the twister. "Even if Abra teleports, it could still hit him where it teleports" Steven thought worriedly

"Now, Unleash!" Zack ordered, determined not to lose. Abra did as it was told, but as Steven worried it still got hit and was knocked out.

"There goes my unbeatable streak..." James said slightly upset by the loss

"Ah well, were not too far from oreburgh, wanna come with me?" Zack asked

"Sure I guess, but after oreburgh we go our separate ways, alright?" Steven compromised

"Fine with me" Zack replied

Then the two boys walked off towards Oreburgh for their next Gym badge discussing the different pokemon and Battles they'd had. How will these two friends cope with the gym once they get there? Find out next time for the battle in. Coal Miner Roark.

**Wee, cheesy endings, my favourite. Haha, anyhow hope you enjoyed. R&R.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Coal Miner Roark**

**Ok, so for those of you who had read the chapter of me giving up the story, I have decided to continue due to a much needed push from Lopunnu in her reinacment of this story. Anyhow, this might be written slightly differently due to the time between my last chapter and this.**

"Ok Steven, are you ready?" Roark asked Steven

"Bring it Roark" Steven replied confidently

It was finally here, the day of Zack's first ever gym battle. Since Steven had won the coin toss, he chose to challenge Roark, the gym leader, first. They had been warned that Roark used rock types, this made Zack feel fairly confident but worried Steven slightly.

"Ok, this will be a one on one battle" The referee announced "If both sides are ready, begin"

"Lets go, Probopass!" Roark said as he released his pokemon.

It was angular and had a giant nose with a moustache.

"What is that?" Staven said scanning it with his pokedex

"Probopass, the Compass Pokémon and the evolved form of Nosepass. Its body acts as a powerful magnet. It controls three smaller units called Mini-Noses" The pokedex replied

"Cool" Both Zack and Steven said in unison

"Since its evolved, let's fight fire with fire. Luxio, let's show 'em a battle" Steven said as he released the spark pokemon "luxio, end them fast, spark"

Luxio started to spark and released a powerful wave of electricity towards probopass. Roark however made no bother to dodge the attack. As the attack cleared, it revealed that the attack had dealt no damage to the magnet pokemon

"huh, how?" Steven asked shocked

"Well child, probopass is a rock _and _ground type, so electric moves will have no effect on it" Roark explained

"So this could be tough to beat then" Steven admitted "but a champ can win anything, luxio bite"

"Let it come" Roark said, as luxio almost reached probopass "now probopass, gravity"

Everyone felt the pressure increase, the new pressure dragged luxio down to the ground "Now probopass, rock slide" Roark said

Probopass started stomping on the ground making rocks start to fall from the ceiling piling rocks all around luxio trapping it disabling all luxio's movement

"crap" Steven said worried "Luxio, charge"

"Not going to work" Roark said as luxio began gathering energy from wherever possible "porbopass, thunder wave"

Probopass sparked and launched a powerful wave of electricity towards luxio who just stood there charging power. As the move passed, it revealed that luxio was still just standing there charging power. This caused a smirk to crawl across Steven's face.

"Now luxio, use everything you have, discharge!" Steven ordered as a final move.

Luxio was now sparking more ferociously than ever. It was starting to show how much power was collected from his body and probopass's thunder wave. In one final blast Luxio launched a several powerful jolts of electricity in every direction, some even being absorbed into the field. All the energy started to bother probopass. Electricity attacking it in all directions due to the energy in the air as well.

"NO! Probopass Rest!" Roark defended, but probopass was unable to move "No, he's paralyzed!"

"Probopass is unable to battle, the winner is Steven!" The referee announced

"Return probopass" Roark said disappointedly

"Great job luxio" Steven said happily as he returned the exhausted pokemon to its pokeball.

"Great job Steven, you deserve this coal badge" Roark said as he handed him the badge

"Thank you" Steven said as he took the badge

"Now it's my turn" Zack said as he stepped up to the field

"Indeed it is" Roark said "Same rules as last time"

"Fine with me" Zack replied

"Then let's begin, go cranidos" Roark said as he released his pokemon

"cool" Zack said scanning it with his pokedex

"Cranidos, the Head Butt Pokémon. Cranidos lived in the deep woods about one-hundred million years ago, and its cranium is as hard as steel" The pokedex said

"cool, it looks strong, so I guess I should send out my strength as well, let's go Dratini" Zack said as he released his starter. "Now Dratini, let's play this by types, aqua tail"

"Types don't determine the match, headbutt cranidos" Roark said as the headbut pokemon charged its rock solid head to block the incoming aqua tail

"Quick, thunder wave while you're there" Zack improvised

Dratini quickly launched the paralysing move straight into cranidos's impenetrable head, paralysing the head butt pokemon.

"haha, you think I'm at a disadvantage, try this on for size" Roark said confidently "now, screech"

Cranidos launched a truly ear splitting sound that had everyone in the gym covering their ears "Now cranidos, head smash" Roark followed through

Cranidos used its powerful legs to launch it at Dratini with it's head smashing straight into the already weakened Dratini, cranidos received some recoil, but nowhere near as much as Dratini took.

"No Dratini!" Zack called, as he did so Dratini began to glow and get longer, as the light faded a similar looking pokemon was left behind, except this one was longer and looked much more powerful than before.

"Wow" Steven said scanning the new pokemon with his pokedex

"Dragonair, a Dragon Pokémon. A legendary Pokémon that can make rain or snow fall at its will. It can even fly without wings." The pokedex replied

"cool" Steven said "I'd hate to battle you after this"

"Cool" Zack said "Now dragonair aqua tail"

However Zack received no reply from the pokemon

"Huh?" Zack wondered "Um, dragonair?"

"Dragon airrr" Dragonair screeched as it launched a powerful twister at cranidos followed up with dragon rush

"Dragonair! What are you doing?!" Zack asked worriedly

"Hmm I feared this would happen" Roark said "you see, Dratini is a very powerful pokemon, so as it evolves it gets stronger so perhaps it believes you are not a strong enough trainer to control it"

"WHAT?! NO! Dragonair!" Zack said worriedly

"SIR!" A man in a lab coat ran in "We have a problem, the aerodactyl escaped, we can't control it!"

"WHAT?!" Roark shouted before running out of the gym with cranidos hot on his heels

"Come on, let's follow them" Steven said following them

Zack returned dragonair before running out as well.

"crap" Roark said as he observed the chaos outside. Aerodactyl was standing on the laboratory screeching and launching attacks left and right. "cranidos, knock it down with rockslide" Roark ordered

"cran!" Cranidos responded before charging at the building, causing aerodactyl to lose its footing, but it managed to regain it and launch a hyper beam knocking out cranidos.

"my turn" Seven said before stepping up and releasing luxio. "Luxio, charge spark combo on the building"

"Lux LUXIO!" Luxio shouted as it began charging tremendous amounts of power and launching them straight through the building striking aerodactyl, but having no visual effect on it.

Aerodactyl screeched again and launched another hyper beam at luxio.

"oh no you don't" Steven said angrily "no one knocks out my pokemon, return luxio. Go abra!"

"bra" abra said as he was released

"abra, keep teleporting till he's dizzy, his weight will do the rest" Steven ordered confidently

As much as abra kept teleporting, aerodactyl obviously wasn't going to give up soon.

"Grr, Zack, I'm going to need you to knock it off, Abra can't do it on it's own!" Steven pleaded

"I can't!" Zack said worriedly "I don't have a pokemon that can battle, finneon needs water, and dragonair doesn't obey me!"

"Do something!" Steven said worriedly back

With a leap of courage, Zack began to climb up the wrecked building until he was right behind aerodactyl.

"Let's go dragonair!" Zack said as he released the dragon pokemon

Dragonair looked around, and when he saw Zack he turned away

"Ok! This is just ridiculous dragonair! You are my first pokemon, we were friends and you still are my friend, and my pokemon whether you like it or not!" Zack lectured "Now I need your help, and you _will _help me. Why? Because you're my pokemon and you do what I say! So you aqua tail that beast!"

With a moment's hesitation, dragonair dived at aerodactyl and smashed it down to the ground with a powerful aqua tail. Then without thinking Zack threw a pokeball and absorbed the pokemon into the ball in a beam of red energy.

"YES!" Zack said victoriously "Thanks dragonair"

"drag!" It replied happily

"good to know we're friends again" Zack said as him and dragonair descended the building together

"Thank you Zack" Roark said gratefully to Zack "Here's your pokemon" He said handing Zack the pokeball

"Thanks, but I captured it for you" Zack said "might make your work easier"

"I can't accept this" Roark said modestly "you caught it fair and square, it's yours"

"Thanks, but I think I need to finish that gym battle" Zack said

"I would, but there's one problem. I don't have any pokemon to battle with" Roark replied disappointedly "But the rules say that, the gym leader is meant to give up the badge to a competitor if he thinks he deserves it. And I do" Roark said handing over the coal badge to Zack

"wow, thanks Roark" Zack said accepting the badge "you won't regret this"

"I'm sure I won't" Roark laughed "but if you're serious about perusing this career in gyms, I recommend you go to Eterna and challenge the gym leader there, Gardenia, she's a master in grass pokemon"

"Thanks', but I think I'm going to stop in Jubilife, for the contest"

"Well then I wish you good luck, and bid you fare well" Roark said as he went back into the mining lab

**Well there you have it, after a while of waiting, I have updated the chapter, sorry if it doesn't meet expectations, but I haven't done this in a while, so any suggestions are accepted. R&R. Flames will be used to make hot dogs.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Aite, I might not update as regularly as I did previously hence me giving up but continuing anyway, but bear with me, I will get to it eventually. Oh yeah, I will be introducing important new character this chapter, so look out for her.**

It had just struck Zack that his first ever pokemon contest was a mere two days away. He was in the middle of pokemon center cafeteria, stuffing himself with breakfast when the thought struck him.

_Which pokemon should I use? How should I appeal? How should I battle? I haven't decided on anything _Zack thought worriedly as he headed out _I don't think aerodactyl would be suitable for a contest, he's more of a battler, finneon might make a good choice if I can get water, finneon is graceful, looks good and too weak to battle but good for appeal. Dragonair however is an all rounder, it's powerful for battles and graceful for contests. I guess since contests have two stages I should use finneon for appeals and dragonair for battle stages, I should win with those two._

"Ow" Zack heard someone say and came out of his thoughts only to see he had accidently knocked a girl over. She wore jeans and had a purple top with a pokeball symbol on it, she had straight waist long purple hair that hung freely from her shoulders, and she also had violet eyes to match her hair.

"Oops, sorry, are you ok?" he said offering a hand to her

"Yeah, thanks, I'm fine" the girl said accepting the hand "so, what was with your deep thoughts?"

"How did you know?" Zack asked surprised

"well you see when someone just randomly knocks me over not looking where he's going with a thoughtful expression on his face, I assume he's thinking. So, are you in the pokemon contest?" She asked

"Yeah, no surprise there I guess" Zack said modestly

"I'm Jenifer by the way, who are you?" Jenifer asked

"I'm Zack, I guess I'll see you around, are you in contest too?" Zack asked curiously

"Yep, see you there" she said before walking away

_Wow he's cute _Jenifer thought excitedly _can't wait till I see him at the contest, but no matter how cute he is, if he thinks he's going to beat me, then he has another thing coming at him _

_Shit she's so hot _Zack thought with a slight pinkish tinge on his face _wonder if she likes me too, I guess I'll have to wait till the contest to see_

"aerooo" screeched the newly released pokemon

"no aerodactyl, return" Zack said slightly pissed returning the fossil pokemon. It had been happening all week, ever since Zack had captured it, it kept on releasing its self from its pokeball.

"Well, well, well, look who we have here. Mr. Zack Johnson, haven't seen you since oreburgh" A familiar voice said from behind a tree

"Well Steven, it hasn't been that long" Zack said to his rival and friend

"No it hasn't, and yet I'm ready for a rematch if you're not scared of course" Steven mocked

"Bring it, I'm ready any time any place" Zack replied to the challenge

"Cool, one on one battle then, let's go for it, turtwig!" Steven said as he released a little green pokemon

"Wow, what is that?!" Zack asked amazed consulting his pokedex

"Turtwig, the Tiny Leaf Pokémon. Its shell is made of earth and when it absorbs water, it becomes harder" The pokedex's robotic voice told Zack

"Well then time to try out aerodactyl!" Zack said releasing the fossil pokemon

"let's go turtwig, end it with razor leaf" Steven said confidently as the tiny leaf pokemon released razor sharp leafs towards aerodactyl who easily dodged the attack

"cool, he's really fast, so that's my advantage, wing attack!" Zack ordered with a smirk.

Aerodactyl swooped down at turtwig and smashed its powerful wings straight into turtwig

"pfft, that won't do a thing, turtwig razor leaf again" Steven said confidently

"aerodactyl use gust to keep those leaves away" Zack said simply

"Excellent, now use solar beam while it's distracted" Steven said with a smirk

"Damn, aerodactyl fight back with hyper beam" Zack ordered. But what he forgot was that there were still leaves from the razor leaf in the air, and those leaves smashed into aerodactyl who took the full blow of the attack and couldn't charge up his hyper beam in time to stop the solar beam from hitting him.

"Please aerodactyl, get up!" Zack pleaded to keep up his undefeated streak

"aer" aerodactyl said weakly as it managed to stand up

"heh, I didn't expect it to get up, but it won't stay up for long. Turtwig, absorb" Steven mocked

"I don't think so, aerodactyl, seismic toss!" Zack came back. Before turtwig had a chance to launch the attack aerodactyl swooped and picked up the pokemon and flew him around in high speed circles and smashed it into the ground.

"I don't think so, absorb again!" Steven ordered to fight back. Turtwig launched two powerful vines at the flying pokemon in front of him; they latched onto him and slowly began to drain energy from him and use it power himself up. At the same time aerodactyl was getting his energy sucked until he got knocked out.

"No! I guess there goes my undefeated streak. Ah well, you can't win 'em all" Zack said disappointedly

"YES!" Steven said thrusting his fist in the air victoriously "I did it, I finally beat you!"

"I guess you did" Zack said modestly "but don't expect things in the contest to be the same"

"Of course not, but I'll try my best to see that it happens this way" Steven said

"And I'll do my best to make sure that it doesn't" Zack replied

"Then I guess I'll see you then" Steven said as he head off

"I guess he will" Zack said as he began to walk off but a voice interrupted him

"Well, well, I had waited for this moment since when we met two hours ago, and now I see what I'm up against, I see there is no competition in this contest" The voice said sarcastically

"Now who could that be Jenifer" Zack said sarcastically

"Indeed, who else?" She said as she came out from behind a tree

"So I guess your rival must have constantly lost to you, because he seemed very happy to win" She observed

"Indeed he has" Zack agreed "so what do I owe the honours of seeing you here?"

"Not much just exploring" She said simply

"Aren't we all, I was just wondering though, do you want to go out for I dunno a movie tomorrow?" Zack asked nervously with his heart beating so fast he felt his ribs were going to break.

A red tint appeared across Jenifer's face "Yes" She managed to say eventually

"So, how about I meet you in the pokemon centres lobby at say 7?" He asked

"Sure, sounds great" She said with her face growing redder by the second

"Cool, see you then" Zack said before walking away his face turning slightly red as well

_YES! _Zack thought victoriously

_YAY! _Jenifer thought happily

"What to wear? What to do? Which movie to go for? Oh my god, I haven't decided a thing!" Zack freaked out as he paced his room in fear of that night

"Dra? Drag gonair" Dragonair said simply

"Ok wise guy, that solves my clothes problem, but what about the movie?! I don't even know what you're meant to do on a date! I've never been on one before!" Zack replied worriedly

Jenifer had a similar problems on her end

"What should I wear?! I've never been on a date before, what did you do on your date Sarah?!" Jenifer asked her companion anxiously

"Well, I had a similar breakdown when Steven asked me out at first, but I just wore the simplest trainer outfit, just a little more sluttily, and put on a bit on eye liner and lip gloss, that's all you need to drive him crazy" Her dark blue haired friend replied

"ok, that's not to hard" She said anxiously as she began to get ready

It was time; Zack was in the lobby wearing his trainer outfit trying to look his best. He had managed to book the movie tickets for the movie Slow Dancing in a Burning room, it was meant to be a romance, so he figured it would be best.

_Wow _Zack thought as Jenifer was walking down the stairs. She was wearing the same purple trainer outfit but something about it at that moment had Zack mesmerized.

_Perfect, looks are working so far _Jenifer thought confidently

"Wow" Zack said still star struck to his date as she approached

"Thanks" She replied with a slight blush "you don't look to bad your self"

Zack grinned also with a slight blush "Shall we go?" He asked offering his hand

"Yeah" Jenifer agreed as she took his hand and the two walked out the door for the movie.

It was half way through the movie; Zack had gotten one large drink and popcorn to share between the two. Zack was bored as hell but, if Jenifer enjoyed it he didn't mind. They were at the climax of the movie where the two lovers were getting back together, at the same time Zack and Jenifer were also holding hands with Jenifer leaning on Zack's shoulder as Zack had his hand around her.

After the movie the two decided to get dinner.

"That was a good movie" Jenifer said as they headed out of the restaurant after a good dinner.

"Yeah it was" Zack lied to keep her happy, he secretly had plans to take her for a walk in the park where he had plans for his first kiss.

"So where are we heading?" Jenifer asked the question Zack dreaded

"Just going for a walk" Zack replied simply

_Wait, a walk. Yes! _Jenifer thought happily recalling what Sarah had said about walks

As they headed to the center of the park hand in hand Zack turned to face Jenifer and said "Jenifer, I might only have known you for less than a day, but from the moment I did see you, I wanted to do this" Zack said as he gently lent forward and kissed Jenifer gently on the lips

He was about to pull away when he felt her starting to kiss back. Slowly he felt his hands wrapping around her waist pulling her closer to him. The kiss was starting to get more and more passionate as they continued to kiss. Jenifer felt something against her lips, Zack's tongue. She gladly gave it entrance into her mouth where it started to explore the girls mouth without her minding it a bit. Finally the two managed to get the will power to pull away from each other.

"wow" They both said simultaneously.

**Wow, ok so that was a long chapter. And I told you there would be an important character this chapter. Oh and by the way, the whole getting ready and the date/kiss part was all written by my girlfriend. So yeah... Hope you enjoyed, as usual R&R.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Sup people, long time no write. Hope you haven't forgotten about me. Anyway SUMMER IS HERE! It started for me like a month ago and I just got back from Europe and have been bored, so I decided to read this story back again and figured may as well finish it since I have three weeks left. I originally started this chapter but accidently deleted it when I was clearing my comp to make space since my GCSE's are starting next year. Anyway enjoy, just remember though, I'm a little out of practice, as usual though R&R. Thanks**

It was a fine day in Jubilife city, but Zack didn't have time to enjoy it at all. He started the day a good run to meet entry deadline for his first ever pokemon contest!

After successfully signing up in time he was panting still trying to recover from his run.

"I _pant _am _pant _never _pant _doing_ pant _that _pant _again" Zack panted to dragonair

"drag dra dragona air" Dragonair mocked Zack

"Yes, you're so awesome. You saved my life, I am eternally grateful" Zack said sarcastically

"Look who the breeze dragged in, Zack Johnson" Someone sneered "ready to get pounded today?"

"You know Steven, your entrances stopped being mysterious a long time ago" Zack replied to his friendly rival Steven " As for getting pounded, it's you who should be worried I've been training more than ever, and we are not going to have a replay of two days ago. This time, I have a hidden weapon"

"Well I guess I'll see you there, if you make it past the appeal stage that is" Steven smirked

"Stop worrying about me and worry about yourself" Zack replied lazily

"Alright, see you in the finals then. Good Luck, you'll need it" Steven replied confidently

"Skills, you need some" Zack mocked as Steven gave him a cold look before walking away

_Crap, now I need a secret weapon _Zack thought to himself

"Welcome one and all to the Jubilife pokemon contest! I will be your host today, so just sit back and enjoy the spectacular performances you are about witness. And let's not forget about our judges today, all the way from Veilstone city we have Mr. Simon Cowell. From right here in Jubilife city, Mr. Contesta, and last but not least Jubilife's very own nurse Joy!" The MC introduced "Let's begin the the contest, first we have the appeal rounds where each contestant will have to show off their pokemon's true beauty with a series of moves, from them only half of our 16 contestants will move through to the battle rounds where they will be paired randomly according to our computer. Remember, only one pokemon is allowed to be used throughout the contest, so choose wisely. Now, let's begin the appeal stages, first up we have Billy from Snowpoint City!"

Backstage Zack was pacing nervously "_what can I do? Only one pokemon allowed! That means Dragonair for sure, but I already promised finneon! WHAT ON EARTH SHOULD I DO?" _Zack panicked

"Well, you don't seem very confident today do you?" A girl said before hugging Zack from behind. "What's on your mind, if you can't tell me who can you tell?"

He knew who it was at once, her voice, her smell, the delicate touch of her hand. Jenifer, his new girlfriend.

"I was confident, and then I was told I'm only allowed one pokemon. I promised one I'd use him, but the other is stronger! What should I do?" Zack replied frustrated

"Well keep the promise and keep sometimes; it's not all about winning. You made a promise to one, so by keeping the promise, you maintain your friendship and trust, and who knows, they might just surprise you" Jenifer replied "and I'm not just saying this so that you lose, I can beat you anyway" She said with a wink as she walked away.

"What did you do to deserve her?" Steven asked Zack shocked

"I have no idea, have some skill maybe?" Zack taunted in a friendly manner as he walked off

"Our next contestant is Steven from Sunnyshore city! Let's give him a warm welcome!" The MC announced as Steven walked on the stage wearing a confident look.

"Abra, I choose you!" Steven called as he released the Psi Pokemon "Abra hidden power!" Steven called as abra released several spheres which began to circle abra "then teleport above them and use sunny day!"

Abra disappeared and appeared on a ledge on top of the arena and summoned a strong sunlight which made the spheres sparkle.

"make the hidden power rise" Steven ordered confidently "then double team and focus punch them"

Abra did as he was told, and as he broke the spheres a golden dust was released which sparkled in the strong sunlight.

"Amazing" Nurse Joy praised

"Outstanding" Mr. Contesta praised

"I've seen better" Simon Cowell said

"Thank you Steven for that outstanding performance. Up next we have Jenifer from Snowpoint city, let's make her feel welcome!" The announcer said as Jenifer walked on stage

"Vulpix, take the stage" Jenifer said as she release a fox like pokemon with six tails behind it

"Wow what is that?" Zack asked consulting his pokedex

"Vulpix, a Fox Pokémon. Its six tails are extremely beautiful. As it evolves, it grows even more tails" The robotic voice told Zack

"Wow that is one cool pokemon..." Steven said in awe

"Now vulpix, start with will-o-wisp" Jenifer ordered as vulpix released several black flames from it's mouth, the flames then began circling vulpix

"Vulpix, follow it up with quick attack around the flames" She continued. Vulpix began running at extremely high speed around the circle of flames which slowly began heading to the center of the circle where a mini tornado was beginning to form "vulpix use ember on that vortex" Jenifer ordered

Vulpix unleashed a strong jet of flamer from its mouth. The flames started to join the tornado making it orange with black streaks. "Now break it with pound" Jenifer finished. Vulpix slammed its tail into the base of the vortex sending astonishing coloured flames in all directions.

"... I can't describe what I've just witnessed. Just... wow" Nurse joy stammered in amazement

"It is very rare to come across a performance like that, absolutely amazing" Mr. Contesta said also amazed

"you have just left a man with a lot of money and even more ego speechless, you could go places kid" Simon Cowell said sounding pleased

"Thank you Jenifer for that mind blowing performance, and now for our final performance, please give a big hand for Zack Johnson of twinleaf town!" The MC announced as Zack walked on to the stage.

"Finneon, I choose you" Zack called as he released the wing fish pokemon "Finneon start with bubble!" Zack called as finneon began releasing a storm of bubbles from its mouth around the stadium, the bubbles formed a path to the top of the stadium "Then follow it up with powder snow on all the bubbles!"

Finneon inhaled deeply and blew out gusts of snow which froze around the bubbles making them look like floating baubles "Now hop to the top and use water gun toward the ground to get in the air, then pop with bubbles with pound!" Zack ordered as finneon released a jet of water sending him flying in the air, he then started falling through the bubble trail using pound to pop the bubbles as he went. With each bubble he popped a beautiful trail of glitter was released from each one.

After finneon safely landed back in the water Mr. Contesta said "Truly remarkable, absolutely out standing"

Nurse Joy then said "you and your pokemon's team work and skill was truly remarkable!"

"It was a good performance I'll give you that kid" Simon Cowell said modestly

"And there you have it folks, we have reached the end of our appeal rounds, the results for which co-ordinators are progressing through to the battle rounds will be given in 5 minutws, so stick around folks" The MC said as she walked off the stage

When Zack reached backstage he saw a girl deep in conversation both of them smiling and laughing, when the girl with dark blue hair saw him she smiled at Jenifer whispered something to her and walked away grinning

"Sup Jen. Who was that?" Zack asked as he approached Jenifer

"That is my travelling partner Sarah, she kinda spotted you. Anyway you did great out there!" she replied

"Thanks, you didn't do too bad yourself" Zack replied

"Still good enough to whoop your ass, I got more applause in that performance than you'll ever get in a lifetime" She replied back confidently

"Well we'll just have to see about that then won't we?" Zack replied

"I guess we will, I guess I'll see you in the finals. Only afterwards are we boy friend girl friend again" She said as she walked away

"I still think you don't deserve her, but it doesn't bother me. I got my own, did I forget to mention it to you? Her names Sarah" Steven said approaching Zack from behind

Zack spun around and asked "Wait Sarah? You mean Jenifer's travelling partner Sarah?"

"Wait what? You know Jenifer and Sarah?" Steven asked back shocked

"YEAH! Jenifer's my Girlfriend!" Zack replied also shocked

"OH MY GOD!" They both said in unison

"Ok Folks, the results have come in and are now being shown on the screen!" The MC said directing everybody's attention to the big screen in the center of the room

It showed that Steven, Sarah, Jenifer and Zack were all in the top 8 moving on

"Great job Steven! You had enough skill to make it past appeal!" Zack mocked

"Thanks for believing in me so much" Steven replied sarcastically

"You're welcome!" Zack replied cheerfully as he walked away

"And now our computer will randomly pair up our contestants!" The MC announced once again drawing every eye in the stadium to the screen

After some shuffling, the results came in. Zack's first battle was up against Sarah.

"Well, well, well. Looks like I'm up against Jeni's Boy Friend" Sarah said boldly from behind Zack

"And looks like up against Steven's girlfriend" Zack replied "This could be a fun match"

"With me? It's always a fun match, if you enjoy losing that is!" She replied as she walked on stage followed by Zack

"This will be a one on one battle, the first person to run to knock out the other persons pokemon wins. Whoever has the most points after 5 minutes also wins. Understood?" The referee announced "Good then let the battle begin!"

"Finneon take the stage!" Zack said releasing the brown, gold and pink pokemon on to the stage

"Ok Drifloon, battle Dance!" Sarah said as she sent a pokemon that looked a lot like a ballon, it had two legs string like legs that were loosely hanging of its body

"Wow, what is that?" Steven asked his pokedex backstage

"Drifloon, the Balloon Pokémon. Drifloon is filled with air and can either expand or shrink to express its feelings. It also likes damp weather." Steven's pokedex replied

_It may look like a playful balloon, but it's probably well trained and deceiving _Zack thought to himself

"Drifloon let's start this off with gust!" Sarah ordered. Her drifloon inhaled deeply and blew out a powerful tornado at finneon.

"Finneon counter with powder snow!" Zack countered as finneon released a powerful gust of wind and snow stopping the tornado in its tracks. Sarah's points fell slightly "Now attack it with water gun!"

Finneon shot a jet of water right at drifloon who couldn't stop it and took the full attack

"Grr, drifloon, constrict!" Sarah ordered drifloon who ran forward and wrapped its legs around finneon's body and began squeezing it causing finneon to cry out in pain

"Finneon, fight back with bubble!" Zack tried to fight back. Finneon struggled, but finally released a powerful jet of bubbled right in drifloon's face

Both sides had lost quite a few points, but Zack was still in the lead.

"Quickly finneon, pound" Zack ordered.

Finneon was getting ready to slam its tail into drifloon, but then an evil grin came across Sarah's face and calmly she said "Minimize." Drifloon shrunk slightly causing finneon to miss and Zack to lose points.

"Again finneon" Zack tried however Sarah used minimize causing Zack to lose more points. Zack looked up at the score board worried, and saw that he and Sarah were tied, he knew he had to do something.

Before he could Sarah called to drifloon "Drifloon finish this with gust!" Drifloon launched the attack. In his shock Zack couldn't do a thing.

**Yeah, cliff hanger! My favourite! Anyway, I kinda hope this was my best chapter so far, It's certainly my longest, after all I did work for a week on just the appeals, the rest I finished in a day. Anyway, I need a little more help with your reviews this time. As I told you before I'm starting my GSCE's and kinda want to bump up my science grade, so please give me good criticism on the plot, characters, writing style, punctuation or anything to do with English really, and ways I could improve. Hope it's not too much to ask, I need you guys!**


	8. Chapter 8

**It's just the beginning**

**Hello again readers. Once again I apologize for the long delay; I have been rather busy with school work, reason in the last chapter. Anyway, I like to think GSCE English has taught me something, so I hope there is an improvement in this chapter in terms of detail and atmosphere. And now, that time of year has arrived once again where I am on holiday, hence you can expect more updates more frequently from me The title has a reason which will become obvious rather soon as well. **

All Zack could do was stand and watch, as the spiralling wind hurled towards the wing fish pokemon. Every second, the strong winds drew nearer, with the person who called this stack, Sarah, just stood and smirked as her victory over him was going to be sealed. However, something unexpected happened that caught everyone off guard, a giant ball of water hurtled and collided with the mini tornado, blowing it apart leaving water falling gently. The source of this attack was unexpected but obvious. It seemed impossible that Zack's little finneon could muster such a powerful attack such as water pulse. But that didn't stop Zack from continuing with his counter attack, using Sarah's fall in points as motivation.

"Now we have the upper hand finneon! Water Pulse again!" Zack called out confidently to the small and discoloured fish pokemon in front of him. Finneon released a massive ball of water which charged towards the enemy drifloon at an alarming speed. However, Sarah was prepared for such a counter attack and called

"Drifloon, take the attack, then, seek payback!" Sarah smirked evilly, meanwhile, all Zack could do was stand shocked at their counter attack. However Sarah underestimated 1 thing, how much health drifloon had left. That miscalculation caused the water pulse to collide and knock out her drifloon.

"WHAT?" Sarah shouted shocked at her loss to the first timer

"Ladies and gentleman it looks as though we have our first finalist! He is Zack Johnson from Twinleaftown!" The mc announced as the audience applauded the victory.

As he left after his battle, Zack headed straight for stage two where Jenifer and Steven's battle was expected to start about now. However he ran into Sarah on his way.

"That was a good battle Zack" Sarah congratulated him "but next time, don't expect beginners luck to save you again"

"Trust me, I intend to beat using skill, who needs luck" Zack replied confidently

"Don't get too confident yet, you've only just started in this world" Sarah warned before heading off.

_That girl is weird… _Zack thought to himself before leaving to go watch Jenifer and Steven's battle so that he knew who he was facing in the final.

By the time he reached the stage, he had missed the introduction, but the battle had just begun between his rival and his girl friend, and he had no idea who to support.

"grotle, use razor leaf to catch it!" Steven called out to his newly evolved grass turtle pokemon. This new form of turtwig was bigger and no longer had a leaf on his head instead it had plants growing on the new larger shell on its back.

"ha, you think it's that easy don't you?" Jenifer asked confidently, her long purple hair still looking perfect despite the stress of battle "jigglypuff, disable!" She called to the round pink pokemon with giant blue eyes.

Jiggle puff bounced away from the incoming and began to get surrounded in a blue aura which it fired at grotle. After the aura subsided, grotle remained undamaged, but confused as to what disable had accomplished.

"Is that the best you can do?" Steven asked, clearly getting overly confident "Grotle use razor leaf again!"

Grotle hunched its back and attempted to launch the attack, however it failed miserably.

"what? Grotle, what are you doing?" Steven called out to the pokemon worriedly as his points fell slightly

"You clearly don't know what disable does, do you?" Jenifer asked laughing slightly "disable is a move that doesn't let you use the move you used last for the rest of the battle. Meaning that your grotle can no longer use razor leaf, and thanks to that, Jigglypuff, Pound!" Jenifer called out, taking advantage of situation.

"NO! we won't give in, grotle, use bite on it!" Steven called out in an attempt to retaliate, however jigglypuff proved to be too evasive for grotle and managed to dodge all of grotles bites before landing a powerful pound on grotles head.

"grotle, can you get up?" Steven asked worriedly to his friend

Grotle managed to gunt and get up.

"Looks like you have a real fighter there, ah well. Jigglypuff, time to use that new move, gyroball!" Jenifer called out to jigglypuff who had already begun spinning in a ball and became coated in a silver aura

"Quick grotle, solarbeam!" Steven called out in an attempt to fight back and seize the battle. Grotle began absorbing sunlight through the plants on its back.

"Now jigglypuff!" Jenifer called out to the now silver ball in front of her. As she did this, jigglypuff began spinning towards grotle at a massive speed

"grotle, unleash your solarbeam!" Steven called out as grotle unleashed a powerful beam of light which collided with the spinning silver ball. However, jigglypuff had enough momentum built up to fight against the high power beam and crashed into grotle, knocking him out almost instantly.

"I think I can say on behalf of everyone in the stadium that that battle was truly exhilarating, however, we have our second finalist. Please out your hands together for Jenifer who has hailed from Snowpoint City! She will be facing off against Zack Johnson in the final of the Jubilife pokemon contest! We wish both participants luck, and the final two on two battle will commence after a short break" The MC announced as she walked of the stage.

Zack felt as though time was deliberately slower as he sat in the contest halls café, too nervous to eat anything. He just sat there for what felt like hours, playing with the spaghetti on his plate, thinking about strategies for the upcoming battle. Which two pokemon wasn't a problem for him, finneon and dragonaire would be the pokemon that lead him to contest victory, however, what he was worried about was his opponent. She had passed the appeal stages with flying colours, and slaughtered his rival in battle. To win he would need to be on top of his game, and he wasn't sure he could do it.

"Could contestants please head towards stage one for the final battle. Thank you" Zack heard a voice say over the intercom.

_Looks like the time to worry is over, now I just need to face this head on _Zack thought to himself as he got up and headed towards stage one.

As he approached the stage, he found Steven waiting for him, looking slightly flustered

"This girlfriend of yours, she's tough. I mean seriously tough. You're going to need to be seriously good, or have the luck of all the lucky charms in the world combined. All I'm saying is watch out. She's more dangerous than she seems. Good Luck" Steven said to Zack who was getting ready to battle

"I know, I watched your battle. Thanks, I'm going to need all the luck I can get to beat her" Zack replied nervously

"What happened to all skill no luck?" Steven replied with a slightly cocky attitude

"When the going gets tough, you realize that you need everything you can get" Zack replied as the MC walked on stage "Looks like it's time"

"Ladies and Gentleman! Welcome to the finals of the Jubilife City Pokemon Contest!" The MC said enthusiastically "After a day of spectacular performances by trainers and pokemon, we have narrowed down to 2 contestants. Everyone please give a huge round of applause to Zack Johnson from Twinleaf town and Jenifer from Snowpoint City!" As she said this Zack and Jenifer walked on stage and briefly smiled at each other "They will be facing off in a two on two battle, the trainer with the most points when time runs out or that manages to knock out both of their opponents pokemon will be the winner!"

Both Zack and Jenifer walked slowly to their assigned side of the stage, both contemplating strategies for the upcoming battle.

"If both contestants are ready, let the battle begin!" The MC announced

"Dragonair and finneon, your time has come, take the stage!" Zack called out as he tossed 2 pokeballs forward releasing the small brightly coloured fish and a long blue serpent like dragon.

"I dominated the first two rounds, I can dominate this one too, but I need you help vulpiz and jigglypuff!" Jenifer said as he released a round pink pokemon and a red dog with fiery red eyes and 6 long orange tails.

"The first move is ours, finneon, powder snow to block their sight, then dragonair use thunder wave!" Zack commanded his pokemon as finneon began releasing a white powder from its mouth which began coating the stage blinding everyone in it. In the meantime, dragonair began charging up thunder which it launched at the two enemy pokemon in an attempt to paralyse them

"Vulpix, use quick attack to avoid the attack, then use ember to melt the snow. Jigglpuff, use defence curl and try to avoid the attack!" Jenifer called out confidently as her vulpix dashed away from the thunder bolt to a distance a launched a huge wave of flames which vaporised the snow almost instantly. Meanwhile jigglypuff had curled up into a ball and rolled away from the thunderbolt. "Now we bring the fight to them, jigglypuff, use sing, vulpix, confuse ray!" Jenifer called out to the pokemon.

"jiggly puff, jiggly. Jiggly puff, jiggly puff, jiggly puff, jiggly" Jigglypuff sang as more and more people started to yawn at the same time, vulpix released a flashing multi-coloured ray towards dragonair and finneon.

"it won't be that easy, dragonair, silence jigglypuff with thunderwave, finneon, knock back that confuse ray with water pulse!" Zack ordered. Dragonair launched a wave of electricity which directly hit jigglypuff who instantly went silent. However, finneon was having a tougher time holding off vulpix's slowly incoming confuse ray "dragonair, dragonpulse on vulpix!" Zack ordered

Dragonair launched a powerful beam which vulpix dodged, however, it caused vulpix to drop its confuse ray which sent the water pulse hurtling straight at vulpix sending it sprawling.

"No vulpix, you can't give up. Not now!" Jenifer called out to the pokemon which lay on the floor "Jigglypuff, keep fighting, don't give up either! Use pound!" She ordered desperately

"vul… vulpix, pix vul vulpix" vulpix said weakly as it got up

"Awesome job vulpix, show them our strength, flamethrower!" Jenifer called out with a new found strength "Jigglypuff, keep trying!"

"Jiggly, jigglypuff!" jigglypuff called out as it slammed into finneon out of nowhere. Followed by a powerful flamethrower straight into dragonair's chest from Vulpix

"So that's how you wanna play? Fine then, Dragonair, time to try out that new move, Dragon dance! Finneon, keep using bubble towards vulpix! You have the upper hand!" Zack called out to his pokemon in retaliation.

Dragonair began doing weird movements and began to get enveloped in a light blue aura. Meanwhile, finneon launched a series of bubbles non-stop towards vulpix

"we won't just give up like that, jigglypuff, don't let him finish that dragon dance, intercept with pound, vulpix, keep fighting back with ember!" Jenifer countered. Unfortunately, she had reacted a little too late to stop dragonair who had completed the dance.

"What should I do with a faster and stronger dragonair? Oh wait, I know, aqua tail that pink round ball!" Zack said confidently, however, before he could, a loud bell went off. In the midst of the battle, no one had paid any attention to the time or to the score.

"Wow, what an epic battle that was, however there can only be one winner, and the time has decided that for us. The winner of the Jubilife city Pokemon contest is" The MC announced

As Zack walked away from the arena, he realized how he had lost. _She hadn't been fighting to knock out, because that would be impossible with dragonair in battle. No, she was battling to bring down_ my points and delay as much as she could. _She hadn't been going for the knockout at all! I should have acted faster instead of being so cocky! _He thought to himself

Somewhere there was a room. It was dark, only a few rays of light manage to break free of the shutters. The room was small and cold. In it was a large throne like chair, upon which a shady man sat comfortably. Kneeling before him was a girl, intimidated and frightened by the man seated before her.

"You have failed me again agent MX2, this is the second time and my patience is running out" The shady man said hoarsely "will you and agent JP1's incompetence continue to stand in the way of this assignment?"

"S-sir, I guarantee you, we will have him by the date you have set us" stammered the kneeling woman, she had clear red hair, but her features could hardly be seen due to the light. "I promise you sir, agent JP1 and I have a plan, all we need is a bit more time and"

"TIME!" The man roared "I have given you two enough time, you ensured me the maze would trap him, what happened there? You said you would destroy him in the battle, how did that turn out? JP1 only narrowly beat him thanks to points!" The man yelled furiously "I have given you both time, and again you fail me. I give you and agent JP1 2 more months to have him; otherwise I trust you know what happens"

"Thank you sir, we will not let you down" The girl replied confidently with a hint of fear in her voice

"Very well, to achieve you mission, I entrust both of you with 2 A grade pokemon, 20 men and 50 000 dollars to spend. I expect results in those two months"

"And I promise I won't let you down again. However, may I please enquire about something?"

"You may" replied the shady man

"These two pokemon, which will they be? Because, since they are A grade, it means they must be some of the best your generosity has to offer" the girl asked curiously

"I have been very generous despite your incompetence. You will receive an option to choose 1 pokemon from a carefully selected group of pokemon. There will be one pokemon to represent each element. Each one has its own strengths and weaknesses which we have tried to minimize. However, we only give you one choice of pokemon, you will not be allowed to select again. Should you fail once more, my pet Mightyana here will have a nice meal" The man said evilly as a large grey dog with black fur on its back emerged from behind the man's chair, snarling at the girl who stood terrified in front of it.

"I promise sir, I won't let you down" The terrified girl stuttered

"You had better not, or you know the consequences. You may leave now"

The man said before dismissing the girl with an evil grin

_Oh yes, I will get you back. You took it all from me, time to repay the favour _the man thought evilly

**I apologize for the cut off in the battle, I didn't want to do it either, but I was afraid that the battle wouldn't end, and it didn't fit my plan… so yeah, sorry about that. And once again I am truly sorry for the late update, but I can only hope that this chapter makes it all worthwhile. I've set up a plan for future chapters, and as far as I'm aware of, this is my longest chapter so far, so I'm happy about that Unfortunately, IB is a bitch and may not allow me to update as much as I'd like, but keep your fingers crossed. Once again, R&R. Thanks!**

**Ap69 **


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